Breech mechanism.



l Nn. 683,963.

Patented oct. 8, mol. J. F. M|= G sr&'s. A. s. HAMMAR.

Y BREEGH MEEHANISH.

\Applica.tiun flied Jan. 26, 1901.)

(No Modell) j 2 Sheets-She'et 2.

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' UNITED' STA-*ras ATENT Prion9 JOHN F. MEIGS, OF SOUTH BETHLEHM, AND SIGARD A. S. IIAMMAR, OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSGNOB-S TO THE BETHLEIIEM STEEL COMPANY, OF ABlil'IHLlill-IEM, PENNSYLVANIA. A

.BREECH MEcHANisM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,963, dated October 8, 190'1.

Application tiled January 26, 1901. Serial No. 44,873. (No model.)

To a/ZZ 7,077,071@ it may concern.'

Beit known that we, JOHN F. MEIGS, a citi- 'zen of the United States, residing at South Bethlehem, and SIGARD A. S. HAMMAR, asubject of the King of Sweden and Norway, residingat Bethlehem, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech Mechanism, of which the following io is a specification.

Our invention relates to breechniechanism for guns, and has for its object to improve and simplify such mechanism; and it consists in the features of construction and arrange- Vment of parts having the general mode of operation substantia'iy` as hereinafter more fully set forth. Referringto'the. accompanying drawings, wherein we have illustrated a preferred en1- 2o bodiment of our invention, Figure l is a transverse section of a breech` showin ga plug therein in its locked position. Fig. 2 isasimilar-section showing the' plug in its unlocked position. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the'breech, showing the plug in position, with a carrier therefor; and Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the circular arcs of the breech-plug and screw-box.

Among the-principal objects of our inven- 3o tion we may mention that we provide such a construction that an extended rotation of the breech block or plug is not required in order to engage or disen'gage it from the screw-box, that the threaded or collared portions of the 3 5 circumference of the breech-block and screwbox are greater than the slotted portions, that the threads or collars on the breech-block and screw-box move radially with relation to each other when the breech-'block is rotated, and 4o that proper moans are iro'vidcd to secure the seating of the gas-chech and the withdrawal of the same, and these ,and other 'objects are accomplished by a construction substantially such as is set forth hereinafter. In order to attain these and other objects of our present invention, we provide the breech-block and the screw-box with' threads or collars, the edges or faces of which coincide with orare composed of a succession of relatively eccentric-circular arcs, and, further, we construct 5o and arrange the parts` substantially as hereinafter set forth. 1 j Referring to the drawings, the breech A is provided with a screw-box A', which receives the breech block or plug B, which plug may be supported upon any sui-table carrier in any suitable and well-known manner, and the screwbox and block may be cylindrical or tapering or of other form, as desired. The interior of the screw-box is divided in the 6o present instance into alternate recesses ly and projections y", the latter ,having internal threads or collars fr, and the block B has alter.- nate 'projections w and recesses fw', the projeetions being provided with threads or collarsl 'l z. Preferably the projecting portions having the threads or collars are greater circumferentially than the intermediate recessed or slotted portions, as shown, as by this construcy tion We are enabled to sec`urc`a greater ex- '7o tent of bearing-surface and -a netter support with a shorter block than when the bloei: and screw-box arefpro'vided with recessed andprojeeting portions equal in circumfer ential extent. 'Ihere may beany desired 75 number of recesses and projecting 'portions in the breech-block and screw-box. The in-I ternal and external threads or collars and zare so formed that their edges or faces coincide`with or are composed of a succession 8o. -of relatively eccentric circular arcs so conf structed and arranged 'that the threads or. collars make contact throughout theirentire length'when the breech is closedy and paral# lelism between the threads or collars'on the 85 breech-block and those in the screw-box is preserved when the blocl is nn'screwed or unlocked, and this contact is indicated in Fig. l and the parallelism-is indicated in Fig. 2of the drawings. The faces or edges of the 9o threads or collars may be composed ol any desired number of circular arcs in succes-A sion, arranged to accomplish the objects of our invention; but for the sake oi' clearness and as a preferred construction We show each of the projections on the breech-block and screw-box as having threads or collars composed of a succession of two circular arcs,

and these may he drawn or designed as more fullyindicated in Fig. 4.

Referring to the diagram, liig. 4, let at e represent the face ofthe bottom ot' the grooves or recesses of a projection y of the screw-box, and a' cthe face of the threads or collars of the same. Let af represent one of the slot- I' drawl a circle tangent to y h, and with the.

tangent-point d as a center describe the are cL-b and the arc a b. Make the angle d 0 e equalto a vo b, and with e asa centerdescribethe arcs b c and 'b' c. i Now if the arc b c is swung around the point o until o b coincides with o a, e will fall on d, because to b cqualsd o e and Z) c and a b become concentric, and consequently parallel. a' b' and ab' are parallel and b c' and 1) c are parallel, and therefore c and ZJ c' are parallel to adb. From this it will appear that all the edges of the threads or collars are parallelwhen the -breech block or plugis in its unlocked position, and when in their locked position the threads or collars of the block make' contact throughout their length with the threads or collars of the screw-box.

lfVhen collars are used,.the rotation of the breech-block to disengage the collars has of .itself -no eect in forcing the breech-block backward to detach the gas-check, andwe provide some suitable means for doing this,

which may be varied accordi ng. to .the requirements of any particular case; but in the pres-l ent instance we have shown the breech-block Bas 'mounted in a carrier or hinged plate C, and this is provided with screw-threads, lugs, or grooves C', engaging with similar screwthreads,lugs,' or grooves on the projection B' of the breech-block, and when the breech-l block is rotated -to disengage the threads or collars the breech-block is forced outward to detach the gas-'check by means of the screwthreads, lugs, or grooves in the hinged plate or carrier C.

Any suitable 'or well-known means may be' used to rotate. the breech-block, it 'being .deemed unnecessary to show and describe the same herein. l

1What we claim is- 1. Abreech-loadiuggun, the screw-box and breech block of which are provided with threads or collars, the faces of which threads or collars coincidefwith or are composed of a succession of relatively eccentric circular arcs, substantially as described.

2. Abreech-loading gun, the screw-box and breech-block of which are provided 'with altern-ately slotted and threaded or collared portions, the curves ofthe threads or collars being composed of a successionof relatively eccentric circular arcs, substantially as described.

3. A breech-loading gun the screw-box and breech-block of which are provided with alternating slotted and threaded or collared portions, the threaded or collared portions being circuinferentially greater thanthe intermediate' slotted portions, and the curves ofthe threads orcollars being composed of a succession of relatively leccentric circular arcs, substantially as described.

4. In a breech-loading gun, a screw-box and a breech-block each provided with threaded or collared'portions composed of a succession of relatively eccentric circular arcs so constructed that the threads or collars make contact throughout their entire length when the b'reecli is closed, and the'threads or collars of the breech-block are parallel with those of the screw-box when the block is unscrewed or in an unlocked position, substantially as described.

5. 'In a breech-loading gun, the combination with a screw-box and breech-block each provided with collars'of a carrier supporting -the breech-block, and connections between .the carrier-and breech-block for f orcing it outward when it is rotated to disengagethe collars, substantially as described.

. In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this .specification-in theprcsencc of two'subscribing witnesses.

JOHN F. MEIGS. SIGARD A. S. IIAMMAR.

Witnesses:

R. I. SToUr, ABRAHAM S. Scnuorr. 

